PocketDelta Microfactory

CSEM NEUCHATEL/ALPNACH, Switzerland, March 5, 2007 -- The PocketDelta, the smallest Delta robot developed by the Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology (Centre Suisse d’ Electronique et de Microtechnique SA, or CSEM), is part of its small assembly microfactory system, which enables production tasks for microcomponents at up to three cycles per seconds with five-µm accuracy.

The micromanufacturing system, recipient of the Swiss Technology Award 2007, is suitable for high-speed and fine-precision manufacturing of items such as watches, camera phones or injection machines, CSEM said.

PocketDelta robots and the microfactory are the result, in part, of a collaboration between CSEM and the University of Applied Sciences/HTI in Biel. The system will be demonstrated at the Hanover Fair (Hannover Messe), to be held April 16-20 in Hannover, Germany.

To create a complete production line, CSEM researchers combined several modules, each about 10 x 10 x 10 cm3 in volume. Each module contains a PocketDelta robot, a component transfer system, a feeder mechanism and tools required by the production process, for example a glue-dispensing system. The modules work in series to form a complete microfactory, CSEM said.

The company said the microfactory's greatest potential may be in the watch industry.

"Watch factories today use massive machines to pick and place minuscule gears or to dispense microdrops of lubricant," the company said in a statement. "In the future, an assembly line with several minirobots could assemble a complete watch." Other applications could include production of medical equipment, semiconductors, complex sensors and small motors, or the automation of trials in the development of pharmaceuticals.

"The PocketDelta was designed to minimize the infrastructure necessary for its operation. Huge savings will be attainable when clean rooms the size of a production hall are shrunk to only an area of 2 x 3 meters," CSEM said.

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